THE IMPACT OF ISLAND CITY IN THE POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA: FOCUS ON BANTUSTANS

Abstract

The apartheid doctrine of racial segregation has been inextricably bound up with urbanization. The creation of so-called ‘Homelands’ or ‘Bantustans’ for the African majority population, was largely an attempt to constrain urbanization, with the notorious ‘pass laws’ controlling entry to the cities in a manner consistent with demands for labour. The South African cities were therefore subjected to unnatural growth patterns; brought through apartheid planning that legitimised exclusionary practices in cities and which created and maintained racal, social and class differences between people. More than two decades after the end of apartheid, urban settlement planning in a democratic South Africa has created secluded settlements with fragmented public services delivery. These settlements are isolated in any terms from mainstream city development and also reflect a mismatch to development trajectory of the country’s economy. From the very essence of this mismatch or misfit, sprouts the concept of an Island City. From the backdrop of apartheid city, this paper interrogates the perpetuation of spatial inequality in former Bantustan urban centres, which in this context continue existing as “islands”. The argument stems from a concerning challenge confronting the post-apartheid government to eradicate legacies associated with the apartheid regime.